In the last 40 years, the TV experience has drastically evolved. Its main interaction device, the remote control, has not.
Consumer devices, particularly audio and video devices, are accessible through wireless remote control units (remotes). Typically, remotes send commands using infrared (IR) light as the carrier.
The first such devices were simple television remotes that allowed a user to select a channel, a volume setting, and to power the television set on and off. As televisions began to offer more features, the remotes also evolved into more flexible, albeit more complex, devices.
In the 70's, VCRs were introduced and the era of multiple remotes was born. Not only were users compelled to deal with separate remotes, but the devices these remotes controlled became “programmable.” VCRs could be programmed for specific channels and languages and to record a program at a time in the future. Televisions were not only programmable with respect to the language and viewing channel, but with respect to a myriad of audio and video options as well. The audio/video (AV) receiver arrived with the introduction of Dolby Surround Sound. The AV receiver was also controllable remotely and programmable adding another later of complexity. Today, a “basic” entertainment center may include a television (or monitor), a VCR, a DVD player, an AV receiver, a CD player, a set top box (for cable), and a digital video receiver (for digital television and HDTV reception). This “basic” entertainment center can be expanded to include a wide variety of other consumer electronics devices.
The proliferation of remote controls led some manufactures to include “learning remotes” with their products. For example, the remote that controls the television set typically has a set of basic buttons to control a VCR and a database of VCR remote control codes. The remote is “told” what model of VCR is being operated and selects a remote control instruction set for that VCR. The remote control instruction set associates buttons on the remote control with commands that can be executed by the VCR. Alternatively, some remotes come with a learning mode that allows the remote for one device to teach its command list to a “master” remote. Because the remote typically has a limited number of buttons, the learning or master remote typically cannot capture all of the commands of the teaching remote. Adding more buttons and layers to the remote increases the complexity of the remote.
The interaction between a typical remote control and a controlled device is based on visual feedback between the user and a display device to which the controlled device is connected. For example, when interacting with a program guide of a set top box (STB), the user issues a command to the STB to display the program guide by pressing a designated button on the remote control and viewing the guide on a video display. The user navigates the cells of the program guide using another fixed button on the remote control. Typically, when a user navigates to a particular cell, the cell is highlighted. A program associated with the highlighted cell may be selected for viewing or recording (if a DVR is available) or the user may request additional information about the program. The user may view a program in progress by pressing a select button on the remote control.
If the program is in the future, and assuming a DVR is available, selecting the program causes the STB to display a DVR menu that allows the user to schedule the program for recording on the DVR. The DVR menu presents the user with additional screens that provide the user various recording options. Navigation of these menus is similar to the navigation of the program guide. To view a recorded program, a user must typically use a group of buttons on the remote that is dedicated to the control of the DVR.
The user, the remote control and the display form a feedback loop that requires the user to interpret the instructions on the display and to interact with the multitude of buttons on the remote to navigate through the various layers of the STB software to arrive at a desired result. The remote control and the STB in this example do not interact except through the user.
While the evolution of the remote control has proceeded slowly, the devices that remote controls are supposed to control have changed dramatically. Applying the current paradigm to multi-source media system requires either a remote that is complex and multi-buttoned or multiple remotes that will need to be understood by each user of the system.